Chapter 29: Chapter 29 – Sanctuary Battle Part 3

Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1986

We are finally standing in front of our next stop, the Leo Temple, the fifth temple of the Gold Zodiac and the abode of the powerful Leo Gold Saint Aiolia, a noble-hearted warrior, with the strength and ferocity of a lion guarding his den, the temple is composed of a huge Greco-Roman style building with three wings, the central wing has a frieze where the insignia of the constellation is marked, and in front of the entrance are two lions statues resting, which look to the horizon welcoming those brave enough to venture into the temple.

Walking inside, I see that the interior is full of torches that provide light to the dark temple, and soon we reach the central room that is supported by pillars and some internal walls, and in the middle of it is Aiolia, surrounded by the bodies of many Sanctuary's soldiers, I notice that all of them are still alive, but won't wake up for at least another 5 hours, and seeing this Seiya asks "Aiolia! What happened here?".

But he looks at Seiya with a cold expression and says in a voice devoid of any emotion "I'll kill anyone who tries to pass through the Leo Temple!", and confused, Seiya yells "What's going on? Didn't you swear allegiance to Athena when you were in Japan!?", at the same time I notice what is going on 'I never thought that Aiolia would be such a prankster... Well we have time so I will help him', and so  I try my best to pull off an Oscar-worthy act, and in a worried tone I warn the Bronzes "Not Good! Guys, be careful, Aiolia fell victim of Saga's Demon Illusion Punch! Right now he is being mind controlled!!".

At the same time, Aiolia continues his act and in the same emotionless voice, he says "I am Leo Aiolia, my duty is to guard the Leo Temple", then he attacks our group with his technique, Lightning Plasma, where he delivers one hundred million blows per second, leaving behind only a countless number of luminous threads, hitting Seiya and the others with enough force to blow them away, and causing all of the to spit some blood from their mouths.

At the same time, I move like I'm dodging his attack, but in fact Aiolia made sure that any of his blows is far away from us, or more precisely from Saori, something that she quickly notice, and in fact she is looking at me with a questioning gaze, to which I reply with a simple wink, then she then understand what is truly going on and decides to let it happen.

Aiolia move closer to the Bronze Saints on the ground and says "Now, I'll end your pain!", and the first to stand among them is Seiya who raising his Cosmo yells "I don't know how to free you Aiolia, but I won't hold back! I'm going to fight you with all my strength!", but before he could act, Aiolia once again moves first, this time he uses his Lightning Bolt, a punch at the speed of light that projects a blast of Cosmo in the shape of a ball of lightning, that hits Seiya right in the stomach and sends him flying once again, and crash headfirst into the ground, making him bleed from his head.

Seeing this I nod and whisper "Not a crack on his skull, my treatment worked...", soon Seiya and the others stand up once again, and their Cosmo grew in intensity and strength, in fact, they all briefly broke through the threshold of the 7th sense, and when Aiolia once again used his Lighting Plasma, they were all able to dodge his blows, and Ikki was even able to counter-attack and kick Aiolia on the head sending him crashing on the ground.

But before they could rejoice, Aiolia once again stands up, and let out an intense bloodlust that momentarily paralyzes all of them excluded Ikki who seems to realize what is truly going on, 'It seems that Ikki tried to do the same thing I did to Guilty to free him from Saga's control... At least one of them is using his head in the right way for once, instead of using it to break a fall or crash trough a wall...'.

But then as if what happened was an illusion, the bloodlust disappears and with a smile on his face he says "Good job, everyone! You've learned to make your Cosmo blaze far more powerful than before, and even if only for an instant, you surpassed the Silver Saints and raised your Cosmo to the level of Gold Saints, You are all true Saints!" turning to Ikki he says "It was a good idea to send your Cosmo into my brain to free me from a possible control, and you executed perfectly...".

Then his countenance turns serious and he adds "But heed this warning, the Gold Saints are still many times more powerful than you are! Especially the next one, Shaka, who guards the Virgo Temple! He is almost a God! Just remember this, do not provoke Shaka to open his eyes! Because when Shaka opens them, no enemy can survive his onslaught!!" then he kneels in front of Saori and says "Goddess Athena! I'll now resume my duty of guarding the Leo Temple in case of enemy invasion", hearing that Saori nods and says "Good, but take care of sending these soldiers to the Asclepieion (Hospital) laying here can't be good for their health".

Later, while we were climbing the set of stairs leading to the Virgo Temple, Shiryu let out a sigh and says "In the end, he truly tested us before letting us pass through...", and after a moment of silence Shun asks "Jayr-san, is this Shaka really so powerful? And what did Aiolia-san mean by not letting him open his eyes?".

Noticing everyone focus on me, I reply "Well, I'll first answer your second question... Basically, Shaka is constantly training and refining his Cosmo by cutting off his sense of sight, I do the same too and train in a similar way, but different from me he does it constantly and at the same time he represses his Cosmo, so when he opens his eyes, all that repressed Cosmo burst out becoming many times more powerful...".

Seeing that they understood, I continue "...About your first question, yes Shaka is really powerful, maybe he is the strongest of the current Gold Saints, not even Saga is at his level, some say that he is the reincarnation of a Buddha himself, in fact, I won't be surprised if he already knew the truth about Saga, and in reality, he will only test us to see if we are ready to face what is to come... But for all his powers, he is also arrogant and not very merciful, if push comes to shove, he would kill you in a heartbeat...".

As I was explaining that, we reach our destination and stand in front of the Virgo Temple, the temple is a curious mixture between a Greek temple for the most part and a Buddhist temple, because the entrance portico is flanked by two columns and majestic Buddha statues, the Buddha on the right of the temple entrance adopts the position of the Samapada, the attitude of rest, while the one on the left opts for an attitude called Dhamarcakra mudrâ or Dhamarcakra pravartana mudrâ (seal of the Wheel of the Law ), it is a gesture of appeasement, of protection against all fear, of setting the Wheel in motion.

Seeing the temple, Seiya and the others rush inside, and soon after, I with Saori in my arms, follow after them, calmly walking through the main corridor, at the end of which there is some kind of meditation room, in this room, there are small steps leading up to a kind of altar where there is a lotus flower-shaped seat on which usually the Virgo Saint meditates and waits patiently for those who try to cross his temple, but right now the said Saint is standing over the prone figure of Seiya while surrounded by the others, 'For the love of Athena! We just got here and Seiya is already knocked out!!'.

Shaka, wearing his Gold Cloth, with his eyes closed, calmly says "You're all an ill-mannered lot! You barge into the Virgo Temple and attack me like a ravenous hungry ghost of Preta, springing at a corpse...", but the Bronzes do not stop, and Shiryu burs his Cosmo, and with an uppercut tries to release the Rozan Shoryuha (Supremacy of the Rozan Ascending Dragon) a fist strike so powerful that generate a shockwave in the shape of a dragon, but in the middle of the blow, Shaka moves in front of Shiryu and putting his hand in front of Shiryu's fist, he stops his attack with a wall of Cosmo.

Shaka then uses his Cosmo to restrain the shockwave generated by Shiryu into the form of a ball, and says "Your puny punch that has caused to reverse the flow of Lushan's Great Waterfall isn't all that impressive, you know! Behold! Soon this ball of shockwaves, will penetrate your Cloth and rip the flesh from your fist! And After that, it will attack your bones! They will be pulverized and you'll be left with a stump!", but after threatening him, Shaka makes the ball of shockwaves explode, sending Shiryu crashing into the ground.

At the same time, I notice that Ikki is still, looking at Shaka with eyes wide open, with his whole body shaking, 'Ikki afraid of someone!? That's impossible, he is one of the bravest men I know... What is going on here? Did Shaka do something to him?', meanwhile, Shun, decides to attack with his chains, but Shaka uses his powerful Cosmo to take control of Shun's chain and make them tightly bind and strangle him instead.

And with a laugh, Shaka asks "Ha ha ha! How does it feel to be strangled by your own chains? Now, with a word, I could behead you... Would you like to go quickly, in an instant?", but soon the chains let go of the vice, making Shun falls on his knees, while Shiryu and Seiya who recovered from his blows, moved to check on him 'Ok, Shaka is clearly going easy on them, and he is ignoring our presence... This could mean that I was right, he knew the truth about Saga the whole time...'.

I feel Shaka's Cosmo spike, and notice him gathering a huge amount of Cosmo between his hands becoming a light ball of condensed Cosmo and at the same time an illusion of the unfurling of a radiant lotus flower appears behind him, then he says "Young Bronze Saint, I shall now say a requiem for you!! Be Banished to the Preta Realm!!  Tenma Kofuku (Demonic Surrender)!!!", and he discharges the gathered Cosmo with a large explosion of light that blows away Seiya, Shiryu, and Shun like a ragdoll.

Surrounded by the knocked-out Bronze Saints, Shaka says "I'm amazed that Saints of your feeble abilities made it this far! I can only conclude that the Gold Saints before me went easy on you..." then he notices Shun's body twitching and moving closer to him, he says "This one refuses to die... I am called the Gold Saint closest to God, but there is one thing the Gods possess which I do not, the Gods have mercy toward the weak! Still, to end the suffering of a wounded beast is akin to mercy, I suppose...", and moves to give Shun the finishing blow.

But right at that moment, Ikki's Cosmo explodes, enveloping his body like a fierce flame, and walking toward Shaka he says "Shaka... Because you beat up my brothers so badly, I was awoken from that memory... And now it's payback time!!", Shaka faces Ikki and says "Heh... So it seems you matured a little since the last time we meet!", surprising me about the fact that Shaka and Ikki met before, and making me understand why Ikki was so strange when we came, 'Probably Shaka, suppressed the memories of their encounter... This is the only explanation possible... If not, Ikki should have remembered someone like Shaka'.

Ikki POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1986

When I finally remember my first meeting with this man, all the feelings of helpless, and resignation, I felt that day impacted me once again, so much that I can only watch as Shaka easily deals with Shun and the others, but when he moves to deal the finishing blow to Shun, something in me snaps, and my Cosmo starts burning once again more fiercely than ever before.

I slowly move toward him and says as my Cosmo burns even more and say "Shaka... Because you beat up my brothers so badly, I was awoken from that memory... And now it's payback time!!", Shaka looks at me and says "Heh... So it seems you matured a little since the last time we meet!" then as his Cosmo grows stronger, he adds, "I spare your life once, I won't do it again! Ikki choose one of the six realms of existence I am about to show you, the real you choose shall be your eternal home!!".

Shaka concentrates all of his Cosmos and stands with his left arm extended toward the ground and his right arm raised upward, and both palms facing forward, yelling "Rikudo Rinne (Six Paths of Reincarnation)", then he projects a light that strikes me directly across my body, and as soon as I felt the impact, I find myself falling, in a new and strange place, it seems some kind of hellish realm, with fire and pain everywhere, then I hear Shaka's voice "Naraka-Gati (Hell Realm), the realm of the damned! A sea of fire, mountains of needles, and endless terror, those who go here shall fall for all eternity, writhing in agony!!".

I keep falling and the scenes around me change, now I find myself falling through a desolate land deprived of every kind of sustenance, 'What is going on!? Is this some kind of illusion?', then Shaka's voice says "Preta-Gati (Ghost Realm), the realm of the hungry ghosts! Your body shall wither to skin and bones, and your bally shall become bloated and distended, your hunger will lead you to feed on carrion, forever".

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Once again my surroundings change, and this time, it is a land full of all kinds of beasts, killing and eating each other, and Shaka's voice once again explains "Tiryagyoni-Gati (Beast Realm), the realm of beasts! A world in which the strong eat the weak, if you want to kill your opponent, you kill him, if you want to devour him, you devour him, a bestial world".

As soon as he finished speaking, the scene changed again, and all I see is an infinite battlefield, where people continuously fight and kill each other, and once again Shaka explains "Asura-Gati (Asura Realm), the realm of the demigods! Blood and carnage! You will be forced to fight without rest for eternity!".

Reaching this point I finally realize what is going on 'I'm not in an illusion!! His technique, sent my soul out of my body with the intention of transferring it into one of these worlds to reincarnate, while my physical body remains in the place of the battle! This isn't good, I have to find a way to return!!', at the same time, Shaka shows me another realm, this one seems almost a copy of our own but something about it feels off, "Manusya-Gati (Human Realm), the realm of men! An unstable world whose inhabitants are slaves to emotion, unable to devote themselves to either good or evil".

Once again, the scene around me changes, and this realm appears to be a true paradise, but I won't let myself fall for this, "Deva-Gati (Deva Realm), The realm of gods! It is called paradise, but at any moment you can slip and fall into any of the others realms, this is the most perilous of the realms!", and at this moment I burned my Cosmo as much as possible letting explode and searching for my connection with my Phoenix Cloth, using it to bring my soul back to my body, trusting in the Cloth ability to resurrect itself and its wearer.

Soon I feel my body once again, and the next moment, I find myself laying prone on the ground, then I hear Shaka's voice "Where did you fall to, Ikki? I suspect that you descended to either Naraka-Gati or Asura-Gati...", I take advantage of this moment where he lowered his guard sure that his technique worked to hit him with a Hoo Genmaken (Phoenix Phantom Fist), sending a thin line of Cosmo into his brain.

Then I say "Unfortunately for you, both the demons of hell and the warring demigods consider me too difficult to handle, they've rejected me! Now, it's your turn! With the blow I just threw, you've been snared by my Hoo Genmaken, choose the realm of death you prefer, Shaka!" sure of the fact that he will now be afflicted by the illusion, destroying or at least weakening his psyche.

But soon Shaka speaks again totally unaffected by my blow "Sorry, Ikki, the six paths of reincarnation lead to a place where foolish humans fall, for a near-God such as myself, those places are irrelevant, but never mind that, I'm sure you are still weakened by the after-effects of the Rikudo Rinne ...", and a soon as he said that, the scene around us changed, and now all around me is a desolate rocky field, so I ask "Where are we!?" and Shaka replies "This is the dry riverbed of Styx, the river that runs between the world of the living and the underworld, there lost children wander forever, crying for their parents and pile up stones in grief... Isn't that you that I see approaching in the distance?".

And indeed, in the distance, I see the figure of my younger self carrying an infant Shun in his arms, but then I notice what is going on and break free from the illusion, and Shaka with a smile on his face asks "How does it feel to encounter yourself as a child?", but all I can say is "Incredible! I threw the Hoo Genmaken, but I'm the one caught in the illusion!".

Shaka raises his hand and says "Do you see now, Ikki? No matter how hard you fight, the only thing you're headed for is defeat! A Cloth is no longer necessary for you! I shall turn it to ashes!" and under my shocked eyes, Shaka sends a wave of Cosmo from his hand at me that doesn't hurt my body but it shatters my Cloth into many pieces.

But I don't give up and explode my Cosmo, I call for my Cloth, which with a burst of flames appears on my body once again as good as new, and say "The Phoenix Cloth has risen from its ashes!! On Death Queen Island, my master told me that the Phoenix Cloth is supreme! Even if dies, it comes back to life and flies again! Do you understand, Shaka? Even if you knock me down a million times, the Phoenix will always rise again...".

Saying that, I don't give Shaka the time to make another move and use my most powerful move "Ho Yoku Ten Sho(Flaming Wings of the Phoenix)", I create a vortex of fire in which I and Shaka are immersed and then project a Phoenix of fire from my hands that fly high in the sky through the Vortex until impacting with him, but Shaka is easily able to withstand my move and says "You should know from our encounter on Death Queen Island that your Ho Yoku Ten Sho is but a gentle breeze to me!".

But I don't give up and use the Ho Yoku Ten Sho once more, but the result doesn't change 'He still doesn't budge!! Is there no way to take this man down!?', then all of the sudden, I feel Shaka's Cosmo spike and he says "Ikki, It was a mistake to drop a man like you into the Six Path of Reincarnation alive and whole, first I will break your body and mind, then you won't be able to come back to life", and all of the sudden, all around me I only see some kind of Buddhist images, then Shaka says "Now you shall see my ultimate technique!! Tenbu Horin(The Treasure of Heaven)!! Now, Ikki, the Tenbu Horin shall sever your senses!!", and after saying this, Shaka opens his eyes.

Jayr POV - Greece, Sanctuary - 1986

I'm enjoying in first person the fight between Ikki and Shaka especially since Shaka is about to unleash his strongest move, when Saori says "Jayr, why do I feel that they are ignoring our presence, it is almost like they forgot that we are here...", and hearing her say that, I explain to her what is going on "Simple, they did forget of our presence, or more specifically Shaka made them forget, he also sent me a telepathic message telling me to not interfere, so this is probably his own test, and seeing that he simply knocked out Seiya and the others, this test is only for Ikki...".

Then our surroundings change, like we are in a different dimension, and all around us are some kind of Buddhist images, that I recognize as the Vairocana is showing his gesture inside a Mandala pattern, that repeats itself endlessly, then I hear Shaka's voice "Tenbu Horin!! Now, Ikki, the Tenbu Horin shall sever your senses!!", then Shaka opens his eyes, and all his Cosmo burst out, illuminating his body in divine light.

Pointing his palm in Ikki's direction, Shaka says "Dai Ikkan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 1st)!!" and produces from it a wave of Cosmo that once again shatter Ikki's Cloth, Ikki's body stops moving and starts twitching every now and then, signs that make me almost have a Vietnam flashback when I first removed my sense of touch, and indeed Shaka explains to the confused Ikki "You can't feel your, your sense of touch is gone! Next your sense of smell! Dai Nikan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 2nd)!!", and another wave of Cosmo takes away Ikki, sense of smell.

After removing Ikki's sense of smell, Shaka says "Now, you can't detect your enemy by his scent! What shall I destroy next?" then Ikki says "W-wait! Shaka you possess such power... Why didn't you stop Saga? A man of such godlike power should be able to see the truth... So why did you let the evil prosper? Did you side with the evil too?"

Shaka ignores his question and says "Now, I know! Now, I'll take your sense of taste! Dai Sankan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 3rd)!!" and another wave takes away another sense, while Shaka continues "The only sense you have left are sight and hearing, which would you like me to destroy next?... Those eyes, eh? The fire of battle blazes in them... Dai Yokan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 4th)!".

After removing Ikki's sight, Shaka says "Now, while your ears can still hear, let me tell you one last thing, I'm still a Gold Saint of Athena, I fight only for justice, never for evil! But all things in this universe flow into each other, neither absolute evil nor absolute good exists... Now, Ikki, only one of your senses remains, I shall now destroy your hearing! Dai Gokan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 5th)!!" and with this last wave, he removed Ikki's last sense, but at the same time I can feel his Cosmo growing stronger each passing second, quickly approaching a level strong enough to fully awaken his 7th sense, he needs only one last push.

But just as Shaka is about to move once again, he is interrupted by Shun who recovered and moved to rescue his brother, but then Ikki stops him with a telepathic message, and the fight quickly resumes with Shaka using once again his Rikudo Rinne, but this time with his improved Cosmo, Ikki is able to form a barrier that was able to block Shaka's technique.

And Shaka who realizes that Ikki's mind is still unbroken, once again gathers his Cosmo and says "Very well, then I shall destroy the last weapon left to you, your 6th sense!! Dai Rokukan Hakudatsu (Removal of the 6th)!!" and with this last wave of Cosmo, Shaka destroyed Ikki's 6th sense, and he falls on the ground like a puppet that got his string cut, then Shaka says to a worried Shun "With his 6th sense gone, your brother has no awareness left, to stop his heat and cast him into the Six Paths of Reincarnation is the greatest mercy I can show him, only his heart still beats, he brought this upon himself".

But the Ikki's Cosmo finally breaks through and continues to expand and grow stronger, as he has fully reached the 7th sense, right now he moves his body through his Cosmo, with a flash of fire he appears standing behind Shaka and grabs, and blazing his Cosmo to the max possible he decides to eject both himself and Shaka to another dimension connected to ours, to remove Shaka from his brothers' path, and in a flash of fire they both disappears leaving behind only the Virgo Cloth, who took its Constellation Form taking the shape of a maiden, a girl praying on her knees, but with wings like an angel.

(Image Here - Virgo Cloth)

Before Shun can start with his drama over the loss of his brother, I moved next to him, shocking him with our presence, and explain to him that both Ikki and Shaka are alive and that they are only trapped in another unknown dimension, and that Shaka was only testing and helping Ikki in reaching his 7th sense, then I remind him that even his he dies as long as his soul is intact, Ikki, with the help of his Cloth, can easily revive himself, then I wake up Shiryu and Seiya, from their sleep, and together we move toward our next destination, the Libra Temple.

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